


Crumbling Support

by Okami_no_fude



Series: Linked Universe oneshots [1]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Comfort/Angst, Description of Sickness, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Mentions of Blood, More angst tho, Spoilers for the ending of Twilight Princess, Twilight's POV for the first chapter, Wolf Link (Legend of Zelda), Wolfie is an animal therapist, sound of bones snapping, wolfie - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-06-11 08:18:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19531585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Okami_no_fude/pseuds/Okami_no_fude
Summary: It hurts.It aches.He offers his comforting warmth and wolfy grins every time when one of the other heroes need some support.They deserve it more than he does.Compared to the others, his pain is insignificant. They went through far more than he did.He could handle his problems, his pains, even if they are tearing him up inside.**Spoiler warning for Twilight Princess ending**





	1. The Secret

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a small one shot in the LU discord channel where Twilight thought his pains were insignificant compared to the others, and this came out from me.  
> I would love to give special thanks to two people in the LU discord: @somnus for giving me the inspirational one shot, and @ let me midoridie for being my super cool Beta reader!
> 
> Credits:  
> [Linked Universe](https://linkeduniverse.tumblr.com/) concept belongs to @jojo56830 on tumblr.  
> Legend of Zelda series belongs to Nintendo.

It was a rather quiet night in the woods, and the Hero of Twilight was staring quietly at the campfire, tending to it as he occasionally tossed in small pieces of wood. He was on the second watch, and the others, including Wind whom he had relieved from the first watch, were fast asleep. While normally at this point he would have gone into the woods to change forms, he opted to stay in his Hylian form.

His wolf senses provided better security to keep watch, but he needed time to recuperate. Transforming back and forth this frequently wasn’t easy on his body.

Staring at the fire, Twilight watched as the orange glowing embers flicker out into the black night, in a mimicry of the realm that he had come to love, and have yet to regain access of. He does not even know if he ever will.

He tried not to think about it, but every time there’s twilight on the horizon, he gets hit by the sense of melancholy, sadness, and despair, ever since Midna had shattered the Mirror of Twilight for all eternity. Although he has made some peace with it, it still struck him with sadness from time to time. 

Midna, his one true companion who had stuck with him through every trial, big and small, until the very end. The only one who would understand him. Yes, she was very cold and unfriendly at the start of his journey, but she soon grew to be a companion that he could trust and rely on, perhaps even love. He remembers the despair he felt when Midna had been gravely injured by the light spirits’ powers, the rage he felt when he had witnessed Ganondorf crushing the piece of the Fused Shadow that Midna had worn as a helmet and the utter relief and joy when the light spirits had brought Midna back, in her true form.

_“What? Say something! Am I so beautiful that you’ve no words left?”_

He remembers those words very dearly, as it showed him she was just as sassy, no matter what form she took. He missed her very dearly. His thought trailed back to another memory, a more painful one of Midna. 

_It was the time of twilight in the sky, and Midna, Zelda, and himself were at Arbiter’s Grounds, in front of the Mirror of Twilight, the very item that he had to fetch the shards to get to Zant. Midna had told him only a true ruler of the Twilight realm could have broken the mirror. Thankfully they were able to find the four pieces and restore it to its original form._

_“Well...I guess this is farewell huh? Light and shadow can’t mix, as we all know,” Midna started, standing in front of the mirror. Although Link wished otherwise, he knew this was true due to how people of Hyrule would view the people from the Twilight Realm, and the painful reminder of how Midna almost lost her life due to exposure of the light from Lanayru._

_He was trying to shake off the memory that had invaded his mind which made him miss what Princess Zelda said, but he saw that Midna was silent and in thought, before she turned toward them. “Zelda, your words are kind, and your heart is true. If all in Hyrule were like you...then maybe you will do alright,” she said, acknowledging of her previous opinion of Princess Zelda. Stairs of light appeared as she stepped closer to the gate to the Twilight Realm, and she turned back to look at him. “Thank you,” she stated, which Link gave a nod as a reply. She looked back toward the mirror in a determined but at the same time a sorrowful look. “Well, the princess spoke truly: As long as that mirror’s around, we could meet again…” Midna trailed off, making him worry a bit. “Link…” Midna called, turning his attention to her instead of the mirror, only to see Midna shedding a single, shining tear. “I…… See you later…” she whispered, voice slightly shaking in the end. Link heard a crack soon afterward. Startled, both he and Princess Zelda turned to see the Mirror, the only connection between their world and her world, starting to form spider web-like cracks from the middle. Link swerved his head towards the Twilight Princess, looking on with despair clutching at his heart. He could do nothing but stare at her disappearing form._

_The sound of the shattering mirror echoed what he felt._

After the mirror shattered, he began traversing throughout Hyrule, trying to look for any way that could help him find a way to the twilight realm, or at least fix the mirror. He needed to understand what Midna had meant when she had left those parting words. What did she want to say to him? Why hadn’t he tried to stop Midna? Or follow her?

Whenever he had hit dead ends in his quest, he tried to comfort himself with the one gift that Midna had left him behind for him to use: the cursed Twilight crystal that Zant had initially used against him. Midna had tweaked it just before she had left the light world so that he could use it and extract the crystal without the Master Sword. She knew the legends of how the sword acts as a seal against evil and Link could not afford to carry it around. It was sometimes painful having his bones and organs be rearranged but he had grown accustomed and learned how to build resistance to it, including the wolffish traits that sometimes bled out when he is in his beast form. 

As time passed, he slowly began to lose hope on ever finding any kind of clue on his self-imposed quest, and as such he went to Zelda to gain some advice. While the newly appointed queen was reluctant to let the hero of twilight continue his quest, she felt that it was best for his state of mind to continue. She brought out a shard that looked awfully familiar. “Is this...?” Link breathed out, afraid that if he spoke any louder the shard would disappear. The queen nodded. “Yes, as you have guessed, while the Mirror of Twilight has been shattered, some pieces have flew off and scattered throughout Hyrule. This is a recent discovery, so I find it rather skeptical that mirror shards were dormant this whole time you were searching for clues. It may be that someone is purposefully leading you on. However, it is still dangerous to leave these things around where people and other things could get corrupted. I would like to ask you to retrieve any shards that could potentially be harmful.”

Link had acknowledged His Majesty’s warning, but his shattered heart had only yearned for his dearly missed companion, and as such he continued his search for the mirror shards. He started to stay transformed for longer periods of time when he realized later on that he could sense the shards more easily. He was so single-mindedly determined on his mission, he slowly began to lose sense of what was important to him. Nothing else seemed to matter anymore.

Until he was whisked away to another world entirely. 

He had been searching around the Snowpeak ruins when he felt the very space and time warp around him. It was very disorientating, and when he shook off the queasiness, he had this sudden urge to search for and protect something, but he was not sure why or what the cause was. He wondered whether he was going to find something that would lead him closer to the Twilight Realm.

Following what the urge was telling him, he trudged through the deep snow, his nose low to the ground due to the blizzard obscuring his line of sight. He had then caught an interesting scent. 

It led to someone who looked very similar to him.

He was also injured. 

That day, he did not know why he had followed his urge, but he was glad that he did.

Because he met someone who later became very dear to him.

A student of his own.

It reminded him so much of his own relationship with Rusl, and later the Hero’s Shade when he was on his adventure.

When he had felt the same power pulling him away from the current hero, the young man he had traveled with throughout Hyrule and fought alongside with, he had felt a little sad and melancholic, but also very proud of him. The whole adventure he had with this hero, with this wild child, was an experience that allowed him to reflect on himself as well. He realized that with his obsession with finding a way to the Twilight Realm, he had been slowly pushing everyone that was precious to him away. This whole adventure may have been a divine intervention from the goddesses for the hero of the wild, but it was an intervention for him as well: to pull him out of the obsessive downward spiral he was in.

For once he was actually grateful to the goddesses who had forced him to become a hero. He began to be less reliant on the Twilight crystal, which was good for him, not that he knew about it at that time.

Then something happened to make him reliant on the twilight crystal once more.

While he had been investigating why the shards had been cropping up now, he felt a distortion of the space again, but one far more sinister than the last time he had experienced this.

What occurred afterward, however, was something he cannot say was bad.

He met so many of his fellow heroes: Hyrule, a down-to-earth, yet courageous and adventurous young teen; Legend, somewhat snarky but truly kind seasoned explorer; Four, a quiet, level-headed teen with unparalleled smithing skills; Warriors, a prideful but never rude, skillful captain; Wind, the youngest of the group with a cheerful attitude and extremely good with the sword; Sky, an extremely kind soul with a burning determination within; Time, his own mentor, fierce but soft at heart. And his own student, his adventurous and strong-willed child, Wild, whom he thought he would never see again. It gave him so much joy, especially the fact that Wild had recognized him as soon as their eyes met and later confirmed it when they were alone. The sheer happiness Twilight saw in Wild’s eyes had his battered but mending heart beat strongly with unadulterated joy. The casual interactions, the trust they gave each other to watch their backs during a battle, and the occasional playful times had given Twilight so many good memories. 

But that did not mean all of them did not have their fair share of bad memories.

Sometimes when incidents occured or they arrived at a particular place that had some form of connection to one of them, their traumatic memories of their past can emerge, causing freezing spells, flashbacks, and nightmares. Remembering that Wild had found comfort when he just sat right next to him in wolf form, he started to transform more frequently into the blue-eyed beast and slowly began to comfort each and every one of the heroes whenever they needed it. Some opened up really fast, like Wind and Wild (the latter already used to it in the first place and remembered how helpful and soothing it was). Others were very tight-lipped about their experiences, even with them not knowing his wolf form which everyone had affectionately dubbed “Wolfie.” In the end, though, they had slowly opened up and shared snippets of the traumatic experiences they had with their journeys.

Hyrule’s fears of letting his guard down for even a second, and the jumpiness that stemmed from being constantly hunted down by enemies seeking for his blood.

Legend’s exhaustion about being called on for multiple journeys to save the world, and his fear of getting close to people due to him experiencing multiple painful goodbyes.

Four’s guilt about being tricked to release the evil that was sealed in the Four Sword, and exhaustion that he hinted being related to personalities.

Warriors' bitter experiences of betrayal from his ranks, and the feeling of shame when he understood what the sorcerer’s motive was in attacking Hyrule and endangering everyone.

Wind’s regret when he had to leave his first companion to his doom, and remorse for not being able to prevent his second traveling companion and friend from experiencing possession and being forced to fight him.

Sky’s deep-rooted guilt of not being able to stop the resurrection of Demise, and horrifying realization that he had doomed the entire group to the cycle of hatred the curse caused.

Time’s bitterness about his childhood being forcefully robbed by the goddess’s design, and his sorrow and exhaustion of people not remembering him or his deeds due to time manipulation.

Wild’s confusion and pain of not remembering a single memory before his coma, and the self-doubt that came from him being the only hero who initially failed to stop evil from decimating Hyrule.

Although Twilight suspects that there is more to it for each and everyone’s hardships, the things he was able to glean from already sounded very traumatic and filled with strife.

Seeing each of his companions finding comfort in talking to his wolf form, and either snuggling into or combing through his warm, soft fur, he decided that he would continue to help them out by utilizing his wolf form and giving them the comfort they need. He wouldn’t hesitate to switch between his forms if it helps to soothe them.

His pain was not comparable to any of theirs. He only had one journey that was filled with strife and hardships, and he had a relatively peaceful life before and after he was chosen to be the hero of twilight. Yes, he had been in a dark place himself when his companion had left him with no way of seeing each other again, but he has been slowly on the mend with that heartache. Yes, his transformation, while painful, was bearable. 

Twilight turned his head over when he heard a small whimper.

It was Wind. He seemed to be having a nightmare.

Putting the stick he was using to tend to the fire down, Twilight quietly stood up and walked into the bushes, took a deep breath and grabbed the glowing crystal hanging down his neck. 

He bit back a small whine as he felt his bones quickly snapping into a new shape and organs shift into their new place. Twilight hacked out a glob of blood as silently as possible under a nearby bush before trotting back to the camp to settle besides Wind to give him some comfort.

He will never tell them.

Even if he has started to cough out blood during his transformations due to the constant switching, he will be everyone’s emotional support to the very end.

Even if this would be the reason why he will leave the plane of the living much earlier.

No one will ever know, and he plans to keep it that way.


	2. The Deterioration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shapeshifting too often has repercussions.  
> Symptoms start to show.  
> The others begin to notice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: description of various symptoms related to frequent bone-breaking and blood loss.

He should have guessed that he will not be able to keep the façade for long.

When the first drop of blood came dribbling out of his mouth, he was genuinely surprised at what he saw in front of his wolf eyes. He never had this problem before when he had transformed during his first journey with Midna, nor when he had been acting as a guide and companion for Wild in his own journey. 

_Why had it started now?_ Twilight had pondered while wiping his muzzle clean, before swiftly coming to an answer: He hadn't been switching between Hylian and wolf forms as frequently as he did now, and while he was traveling with people who know both of his forms but have yet to connect the dots. He had never transformed back and forth multiple times to keep his secret while acting as a comfort animal. Normally he would not be utilizing his wolf form like this, but he knew that keeping everything inside was not healthy for one’s mental state. Twilight understood that he could not really help people in his Hylian form, as people would be wary of revealing their secrets, their darkest emotions, to someone they haven’t known for long, even though they went through way more things together.

He knew that his fellow heroes would definitely be mad at him about the facts that he knows a lot of their secrets that they had entrusted to him when he was in wolf form, as their confidant. For the others that knew his secret, he was definitely reluctant to share the more detailed parts, due to Four's apprehensiveness toward dark and shadow magic, and the (currently) small amount of pain he goes through each transformation. Twili magic would fit in Four's category of shadow magic, and he knew that Time and Wild would stop him from utilizing his wolf form so frequently if they knew about it.

He thought he could deal with the loss of blood. He figured that if he had coughed out blood, it would be one of the organs: the lungs or the stomach. As he hadn’t had any trouble breathing, Twilight guessed that it was his stomach that had been damaged, then fixed during the transformation process. The shifting of his organs while transforming was not entirely pleasant: the shape of a human is completely different from that of a wolf, and it made sense that his organs would get damaged. 

He believed he would be fine due to the fact that while he was coughing up blood, he did not feel pain from his innards at all after the transformation was complete. The hero of twilight thought as long as he replenished the blood he had lost with red potions and food, he would be fine. 

That thought slowly went away as time went on.

Another symptom began to emerge besides the blood loss: extreme hunger.

He did not even realize it, but he was unconsciously eating more and more food that Wild had made for the group, and yet, it rarely filled him up. It was pointed out to him one night.

_"Sheesh Twilight, I know that you have all that natural strength, and do not rely on any magical enhancement, but do you have to wolf down on so much food?"_

_The ever snarky Legend had scoffed at him when he was devouring the bowl of the pumpkin soup ravenously._

_Twilight had frozen when Legend spoke his observation out loud. Was he eating that much lately?_

_He looked around him and saw his fellow heroes staring at him with various emotions ranging from surprise to slight concern. By looking at their faces, he guessed that he was.  
He needed to make an excuse._

_"Hehe, y'all know, I do need to keep all this muscle up, so I do train a lot as well. You can’t keep in shape if you don't train, and that also means I am burning a lot more energy than you guys are," he fibbed to shoo away their concerns._

_Time had given Twilight one of his deep stares, but he stood his ground this time, trying so hard to not let Time know that was not the reason why he had been eating so much._

_After a long staring contest, Time relented._

_"Fine Pup, but don't overwork yourself. It is admirable to train, but you need to be in good health in order to actually fight, you know?"_

'Crisis averted,' _Twilight thought as the rest of the group joked about his appetite, and he took the teasing with good grace._

_He did not see that one person did not look satisfied with the answer._

Although everyone had taken his fib, Twilight knew that Time would come after him to make sure that he was not actually training too much, which in case, he needed to cut the amount of food he consumed in front of the others to not have them be suspicious. 

He reached the conclusion that he needed to hunt for his own food as well.

Twilight began foraging stuff that he could eat without preparing too much: fruits such as berries and apples, mushrooms and certain types of herbs, even insects and the like. However, even with this extra food consumption, his hunger did not abate as much as he would have liked. 

He knew that these symptoms were due to his constant shifting, but he had little to no knowledge about any complicated illness and their symptoms: he left those to Renado, the shaman at Kakariko Village, and only learned first aid and field treatment procedures from him. 

_‘And besides, who am I supposed to ask this? A random Healer or a doctor? How would I even explain my suspicions about why these symptoms are showing?’_ Twilight thought. 

He cannot really trust many people with this secret, as he could really see how the people of his Hyrule would react: with fear-driven scorn, disdain, and perhaps even inflict physical harm onto him. The high-end people were already looking for ways to drag him through the mud due to him having a connection with Zelda, he did not want to give them ammunition. Why would any other people in different worlds act differently than his?

It became harder to hide things when marks became visible on his body.

He first noticed it when he had taken off his gauntlets when they were settling for the night.

Twilight was really glad that no one else was nearby when he pulled up his sleeves a little when he noticed something was odd.

Spots of bruises in light shades of purple decorated his arms in the shape of his gauntlet straps.

He was startled. He hadn't noticed any pain whatsoever when he was wearing the gauntlets. Had he pulled the straps too hard? That did not make sense, as he had put them on with the usual tightness that he was comfortable with. While the bruises were not dark in color, it was still disconcerting the fact that he had some when he did not hit his arms that hard. 

He found out it was just not his arms.

Anywhere he had tightened straps on, there were light shades of purple splotches adorning the area. He could not phantom why he had such bruises when nothing strenuous besides his shifting had happened. Disturbed, but not able to do anything about it, he hid it as the best as he could for that night.

His deterioration began to slowly show with his wolf form as well.

After each shift, Twilight began to notice that his senses were getting duller bit by bit. 

He understood why when Wind had given an off-comment when he was comforting him after a nightmare.

_"Wolfie, your nose seems to be a bit drier than usual?"_

While this should not cause any concern, as Twilight knew it was not unusual for dogs to get dry noses from time to time, the fact that he had a dry nose at such a random time was not common. 

It did not help that a dried nose would sabotage his sense of smell greatly.

He had less time to react to sniff out ambushes and warning the rest of the group, which at one time had caused Wild to get injured. He felt really guilty about that.

This dulling of senses gave the first clue away to the others that something was not right with him.

_As of request of Wild, it was Four and Twilight's turn to hunt down some game for dinner. Twilight, in his wolf form, was sniffing out the food for that night: a boar. Four was a little was away from him, keeping an eye out on their surroundings while Twilight was trying to find clues. Twilight, at this point, had been experiencing light dizziness once in a while that he chalked up to a lack of potion intake due to the fact that the last of his stash, including the secret stash, had to be used for an emergency treatment, and they were days away from the nearest settlement. He did not regret sharing the potion for his comrades, but it was already starting to affect him._

_Having his mind wander was not a good idea when they might not be the only one using the area as hunting grounds._

**_Snap!_ **

_Twilight unwittingly let out a high-pitched yowl as he felt something sharp and strong clamp onto his foreleg. Trying to keep his whining withheld, he looked down to see what had clamped onto him and torn through his skin._

_It was a steel bear trap._

_Four, hearing his yelp up ahead, rushed towards him in a hurry._

_"Twi- Wolfie?! Are you alright?!"  
Twilight had to hold back his whimpering as Four gasped to see the infernal trap clamping down his paw in a painful manner. _

_“Ouch, that’s got to hurt” Four stated as he quickly slid to him, and assessed his right paw and the mechanism of the trap he was ensnared in._

_"Shoot, while this is not a complicated trap to disengage, it is going to hurt. I will also need to assess the injury," The ever calm hero of men had said, and began fiddling with the painful contraption he was in._

_While Twilight gritted his teeth from preventing him from yelping out even further, he heard Four mumble something that caused him to momentarily freeze._

_"What is wrong? You usually sense these kinds of stuff a mile away. Are you sick?"_

_It was a hassle to reassure Four that he was fine and he was not sick, and a battle to hide the injuries from the others back at camp._

_He did not succeed in hiding it from his mentor, who gave him a very disappointed look for hiding the fact he was injured._

He managed to avert the initial suspicion that something was wrong with him, but that also did not last long. 

The second hint was the copious amounts of fur he was shedding.

_Sky had been needing some comfort for that day, so he stuck around in his wolf form as Sky had put his fingers through his fur..._

_...and brought his hand up to see tangles of fur coming off from his body._

_"Is it shedding season for you, Wolfie? Because that is a lot of fur...." Sky pondered and proceeded to start combing through his fur coat to get some of the tangles off._

_The amount of fur Twilight witnessed falling out of his coat was not the normal amount when animals shed their excess fur._

_Twilight panicked._

_For the first time ever since he met the eight other heroes, he forgone giving comfort to the others, and ran off, ignoring Sky's concerned calls._

_When he had returned to the camp in his Hylian form, he saw Sky already asking Four, who was on watch that shift, if they had seen Wolfie._

‘Damn it, how would I brush this off…’

_Quietly sneaking to the side as much as possible, Twilight took cover to hide from his fellow heroes who were still awake. Finding a good spot where Four could not see him, he quickly settled down and fell asleep to avoid questions, hoping that Four would forget what he had heard._

_He was not so lucky._

_The next day, Four had managed to get the two of them alone for foraging again, when he asked the questions Twilight had hoped not to hear._

_"Twilight, what is wrong with Wolfie?"_

_Twilight momentarily stiffened, his mind racing to find an answer that was plausible for the ever collected hero._

_"...Twi, are you not feeling well?"_

_Twilight guessed that he should go the safe route and give him a half-lie._

_"...I guess, Four...I may have just gotten a slight cold. I have been feeling a little tired recently."_

_This was true, as his newest symptoms besides his coughing up blood, perpetual hunger, and easy bruising, he was tiring easily than before. Even he was surprised in the past few days, he had been the last one to wake up._

_He gave Four what he hoped to be a reassuring smile. "Although I'm sure if I take it easy, I would be back to normal Four, don't worry about it. I know how to take care of myself."_

As he promised Four, he had taken it easy for a week, and while some of the others were concerned that Wolfie did not show up for a few days, Twilight could see that Four, Time, and Wild was becoming visibly relieved with Twilight resting, and actually let him sleep in more than usual. 

While the period of not shifting between forms had helped him a little with his fatigue, it did not truly help with the perpetual hunger he was experiencing at all, as he could not go on his own to get extra food while patrolling. 

As a result, the first time he shifted after a week of rest, he saw signs that he may be experiencing malnutrition.

As a wolf, his ribcage was starting to show.

Week by week, his symptoms gradually became worse to the point everyone could tell something was wrong: bruises from the various fighting the heroes went through lasted much longer, he was sleeping far more in both his Hylian form and wolf form and had frequent dizzy spells and nausea. 

He was hacking up far more blood than before even after his transformations were done, causing him to not be able to stomach things when he should have been consuming food, and his ribs started to show more, even though none of them knew that.

The others sensing that Twilight was not feeling well at all, unanimously decided to head to the nearest village to get him checked out.

Only to get ambushed along the way.

\----

Four should have mentioned much earlier to the rest of the group that there was something wrong with Twilight.

He was already suspicious when Twilight had brushed off the comment that Legend said about how much he ate. While he was not as close to Twilight as Time was, he was an observer: he needed to be able to see even the smallest of details if he wanted to make a sword with no flaws. The way that Twilight had breathed out a minuscule sigh of relief after Time had taken his gaze off of Twilight was odd.

At first, it was not as noticeable; a small wince whenever he had taken off his armor straps, shaking of his head as if to clear his mind, and the amount of food he was still eating.

The incident with the bear trap had him alarmed and caused him to be more observant of Twilight and his ongoings.

The picture that he pieced together was much more alarming than he initially thought.

His observations of Twilight always volunteering to restock their potion stock when they were in a settlement. Sky's statement of Wolfie running off when he was combing through the wolf's fur only to have a lot falling off even though it was not shedding season. His frequent fatigue, his dulling wolf senses, the occasional hacking coughs he hears from Twilight...

The most frightening one was where he spied something red at the corner of the elder hero's mouth before he had wiped it away.

"Guys, we need to find a village for Twilight," he called out when their surroundings had finished warping around them, walking close to Twilight's side, who was holding a hand to his head while using the side of the mountain as support. He was paler than usual.

The rest of the heroes' turned their heads towards' Four, and they took in the sight of Twilight's state. 

Time came up to him first.

"Pup, are you feeling well?"

Twilight tried to wave off Time's concern. "It’s all right Old man, just a bit dizzy from that transition between worlds, I will be right as rain later."

Four was not having any of that.

"Bullshit, Twilight! You are not fine! You are paler than usual, and I have seen you favoring your right side a lot ever since you had been rammed by the lizalfos' tail!"

"But that was almost 3 weeks ago!" Hyrule exclaimed.

"That is why I am saying Twilight is bullshiting his condition!" Four stated.

Twilight gave a side glance to the shortest hero. "Four, nothing is wro-"

Twilight stopped with a glare from Time.

"We are stopping at the nearest village, and you are not going to argue."

Everyone else agreed, worried for their fellow hero and teammate.

Wild, who was checking his slate to see whether it was his Hyrule or not, stated that they were on top of one of the mountains and he could lead the group to the nearest settlement without bumping into bokoblin camps.

What Wild was not expecting was the sudden downpour obscuring the view and making the rocks slippery, nor the sudden appearance of a camp of monsters, with two silver and one gold in the mix and ambushing them.

Four heard Warriors barking out orders to handle the sudden situation they were thrown in.

"Wild! Stay near the back with Twilight and provide cover fire! Deal with the bokoblins! Twilight, if you can, protect Wild while he is shooting arrows! Wind, Four! Please deal with all of the bokoblins! Join Hyrule, Legend, and Sky in defeating the silver moblins when you are done! Time, you and I are gonna deal the golden one!"

Everyone jumped into action as they began to carry out the instructions Warriors have given.

It was a tedious battle, having to deal with a dozen of bokoblins and a regular moblin. Every once in awhile, Four glanced back to make sure that Twilight was safe. It seemed that he was mostly fine, and only had to fend off three small bokoblins that Four had regrettably missed. They managed to finish off all the bokoblins, and by teaming up with the rest, the rest of the group managed to swiftly defeat both silver moblins and was just about to finish the gold one when Four sensed a chill in his back. 

He quickly looked back at the two heroes in the back, only for his eyes to widen.

"Wild! Twilight! Behind you!"

Both Wild and Twilight were caught off guard as they swiftly turned back only to see a black moblin with a thorny bokoblin bat swinging at the duo. Twilight, while he was still quick on his toes and managed to bring up his shield to defend the both of them, he was not able to brace himself on time and was knocked clear to the side.

Toward the edge of the cliff.

"NO!!! TWILIGHT!!!" 

Four could only helplessly watch as he saw Twilight be thrown into the air and off the cliff, the rain obscuring where the hero fell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After much debating, I have decided to make this fic a three-part story, as some people requested a sequel. I initially wrote it live on the LU discord server and decided I liked it enough to post it to share with all of you guys.


	3. The Reveal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fall revealed the state Twilight was in with his self-imposed secret.  
> The others learn his secret, and how this came to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I know I said three-part fic, but this editing made me add a bit more and it turned longer than I thought. So I'm going to separate it a little, and post the last small part as an epilogue instead of putting it in the same chapter. Forgive me! 
> 
> Warning: description of injuries and mild malnutrition

Wild could not comprehend what had happened. 

While it was an unwelcome and nasty surprise, the group seemed to be able to take care of the sudden ambush of monsters quite well.

He took a side glance at his mentor, who, as Four had mentioned, was paler than usual, and he could see that he _was_ favoring his right side. Wild could not believe that he hadn’t seen that something was wrong with his mentor; he had been sleeping a lot more, but his eating habit went back to normal until recently... Why hadn't he noticed it before?

"Wild! Twilight! Behind you!"

Wild quickly snapped out of his thoughts and swiftly turned behind him, fumbling for an arrow.

He was not expecting the moblin to be so close already.

He did not think that Twilight would have put up a shield, only to be swatted away like a rag doll.

He could not believe his eyes to see Twilight disappearing over the cliff.

"NO!! TWILIGHT!!"

He does not know who screamed that out, but that was the only thing on his mind.

Wild did not register himself releasing the arrows, shooting all three of them straight through the black moblin’s head. He did not care if the others had finished defeating the gold moblin. All he had in his mind was Twilight. He needed to get to Twilight, his fellow hero, his mentor, his _brother_.

Throwing his bow aside, he raced toward the cliff to see whether he could see Twilight anywhere.

The rain obscured his line of sight.

Eyes racing, Wild mentally calculated the trajectory of where Twilight was thrown and mapped out where he could have fallen. 

There was water right below this cliff.

There was the possibility of Twilight surviving the fall, but Wild needed to hurry.

The sudden impact of water to his head would have instantly rendered Twilight unconscious.

If the sudden impact did not kill him, he would drown instead. 

He was about to get up to jump off when someone stopped him.

It was Four.

Four already knew from Wild's eyes, he was going to jump off the cliff after Twilight. However, he also saw beneath those panicked eyes, there was a strange glint of calmness as if he was mentally calculating something. 

"Wild, how high is the possibility of saving Twilight if you went down to get him?" he asked urgently.

if Wild was surprised at his question, he did not show it. Instead, he answered with such ferociousness that even the ever calm side of Four was taken aback. "There's water below. It's slim, but he may have a chance of surviving that impact. We need to save him from drowning quick, however."

Four nodded, somewhat expecting that answer. "Sky, you have the sailcloth, go with Wild to help him get Twilight, ASAP."

Sky nodded with a grim look on his face. Looking toward to Wild for instructions, he listened to the younger hero while he approached the cliff. "Twilight had his shield up. That may have helped him stay afloat, but we can't be sure. We may need to dive underwater, got it? The rest of you guys, meet us at Hateno Village, ask for Purah or the location of the ancient tech lab."

Sky understood his instructions and ran off the cliff like he would have jumped off a platform back in Skyloft.

This, however, was a more serious mission than just getting on a loftwing.

One of his friend's life was at stake.

Nearing the surface of the water, Sky saw Wild up ahead opening up his paraglider, to which he did the same with his sailcloth. He had not used the sailcloth this way in a long time, but he was glad that he kept checking for wear or tear, as this was immensely helpful for this situation. 

descending toward the water, he scanned the surface to frantically look for anything that remotely might be Twilight.

"SKY! OVER THERE!" the chosen hero heard Wild shout at him, gesturing with his head.

Looking over where he had pointed, he saw a wooden object floating nearby the shore.

It was in the shape of a shield.

_Twilight's shield._

Quickly angling himself toward the floating object, Sky prayed to the goddess Hylia that Twilight was still attached to his shield, and it kept him afloat.

Drawing closer, he realized that it wasn't the case. 

The Ordonian Shield was flipped upside down, showing that the strap of the shield was broken.

"WILD! YOU SEARCH NEAR THE SHORELINE, I'LL DIVE UNDERWATER TO SEARCH FOR HIM!" 

With that said, Sky quickly put his sailcloth away a few meters above the water and plunged underneath the cold surface. 

The water was extremely dark, and he could barely see anything underneath the surface.

Until the properties of the Water Dragon’s scale activated.

With the scale that he had received in the Faron woods of his world, it allowed him to stay underwater for longer periods than a normal Hylian. It also helped him see through the water much more than an average person.

Swimming around, he tried to look for his comrade and friend, trying to scan through the waters.

From the corner of his eye, he saw something glowing.

His right hand, which had the mark of the Triforce, was glowing softly. Pulsating.

As if it was trying to send a signal.

Seeing this, Sky slowly moved his right hand around, like how he would do when using the dowsing ability of the Master Sword.

It pulsated quicker in a certain direction. 

Sky quickly began swimming toward that direction, determined to find Twilight quick.

After what seemed like ages when in reality was only a minute, he saw something through the murky depths.

A small, flickering light, highlighting a silhouette drifting in the water.

_‘Twilight!’_ Sky thought and swam towards him as fast as he could. He could not see the details in the dark water, but he could see that Twilight was not moving. Being mindful of his head and neck, Sky hooked Twilight from underneath his arms and dragged him up to the surface.

When the duo breached the surface, Sky hollered for Wild as he tried to assess Twilight.

He was coughing up a little, but he seemed to be doing it unconsciously, as he did not react to the loud yell Sky had produced. Checking his face, he had to wince as he saw dark spots starting to form under his eyes. With some alarm, he realized that under the chainmail, he could feel Twilight's ribs, with his left side clearly being broken.

 _'But how? He was eating more than we did, how can I feel his ribs that distinctly?'_ Sky thought as he slowly swam toward the shore where Wild was at, dragging Twilight with him.

He desperately prayed to the Goddess Hylia that Twilight would come out relatively fine from this ordeal.

"WILD! I FOUND HIM! HELP ME WITH HIM!"

Wild frantically turned toward where he heard Sky's yell.

in the distance, he could see two figures bobbing at the surface, one looking limp. 

Swimming as fast as he could, he headed toward where Sky and Twilight was, adrenaline pumping through his veins. _He needed to get Twilight to shore and help him._

"Wild, Twilight's breathing, but be careful with his head and his left side of his body. I think his spine his fine, but I can’t be certain either," Sky says as Wild reached the duo.

Nodding, he helped Sky transport the unconscious hero as carefully, yet as swiftly as possible to the shore.

Once they were able to stand on firm land, the two soaking heroes set their friend onto the ground as carefully as they could. Assessing Twilight’s condition at first glance, Wild held back a cringe. Besides the broken ribs Sky told him, they could clearly see Twilight’s right leg bent at an odd angle. Broken.

While they knew they could have risked further damage if Twilight had a spine injury when they carried him to shore, they did not have much of a choice. Wild gritted his teeth as he knew he was currently ill-equipped in transporting a person with a possible neck or spine injury; he did not have anything that would secure Twilight's body.

"Besides the broken bones, he clearly has a concussion, and perhaps a severe one at that." Wild hear Sky announce with a grimace. " Do you have any fairies that could at least take care of his immediate life-threatening injuries? I’ll look for one in Twilight’s pockets as well."

_‘Fairy, fairy. Did he have a fairy?’_ Wild thought as he frantically scrolled through his Sheikah slate to check his inventory. _‘Please let there be a fairy in his inventory....’_

"Ah, there! "

Wild was glad that he had made sure that he kept a few fairies, even after he had met Time, as the group began to think that it was not completely necessary to keep one poor fairy stuck in a bottle for too long. This was his last one.

Drawing the fairy out of his Sheikah Slate, he begged the helpful being to heal the most severe injuries. 

He was terrified to see that the fairy stuck near Twilight's head and neck while it worked its healing magic before disappearing. Did that mean he actually had a broken neck or skull before the fairy healed that area?

Wild opened up his Sheikah Slate to his map functions. "While the fairy may have taken care of the neck area, it does not mean that transportation through regular means would work. We need to use the warping mechanism," he told Sky. "Grab hold of Twilight, and then on the Sheikah Slate."

"Do you know whether it works on multiple people?" Sky questioned a bit while scrambling to do what Wild told him.

"It worked transporting two people when Zelda experimented, it should work with three." Wild grimly told him as he rapidly tapped the button to activate the warping mechanism, setting the destination to the Hateno Lab where he knew Zelda was.

Wild let out a sigh of relief when he saw the familiar sight of the Hateno lab situated at the highest point away from Hateno Village, both Twilight and Sky safely transported. Leaving Sky to check on Twilight's vital signs, Wild began pounding on the door hard.

"Zelda?! Purah?! Symin?! Are you guys in!?! Please help!!" Wild cried out desperately.

He heard a clatter of noise from inside, and the door swiftly opened away to reveal Zelda with her usual blue attire.

"Link! You're.... oh my goodness what happened? You are soaking wet!"

"I’ll explain later, please, you gotta help my friend!" 

Zelda looked over his shoulder and gasped, seeing Twilight on the ground with raccoon eyes, and leg that was visibly broken for her to see.

"Purah, Symin, could you two please clear an area where we can set Link's friend. Link, have your other friend help you care him inside. You can explain once we set him down."

\------------

Sky thought that the extent of Twilight's injuries were his broken ribs, broken leg, and his severe concussion. 

He never felt so alarmed of what he saw as they began to strip his clothes off. 

Numerous splotches of bruises, small and big, light purple to nearly black, decorated his arms and torso. It was not only the side where he had clearly impacted the water. Another huge, slightly dark purple bruise in the shape of a tail adorned on his lower right side, and more, smaller dots were spread out all over his chest. 

The chest itself was another huge problem.

_‘Twilight should not be this thin!’_ Sky thought with horror as he could clearly see the shape of his ribcage as if there was only skin and bones. His arms were also a bit too thin to be considered healthy either. Giving a side look to Wild, he knew that his fellow hero had the same train of thought as he did.

The broken bones and his ribs did not seem to matter as much as what he had found out.

"...Good thing that his broken bone had not protruded out from his skin or punctured his lung, that would have been a disaster..." he heard the young white-haired female mumble as she had aligned Twilights' right leg properly to splint it secure, while the older white-haired man was bringing various medical supplies over. 

Wild's Zelda was also mumbling as she was scanning Twilight. "Dilation of pupils, dark patches under his eyes, no reaction to any stimulus... yes, he has a concussion... how long has he been unconscious?"

"...Don't know, maybe 45 minutes?" Sky heard Wild mumble.

"...Then it might be a severe one, given what you told me. But was he this skinny in the first place? And all these bruises! There is just too many, and I can see not all of them are from the fall... you know why?"

Sky and Wild both shook their heads.

"He has very brittle fingernails as well, and from what I can tell, his bones have been broken numerous times," Zelda announced, her Triforce shining on the back of her hand. "..and some kind of foreign magic residue? " 

Sky could feel Wild shift beside him uneasily. Did he know something?

Wild's Zelda must have thought the same thing, as she raised an eyebrow toward the hero native to this Hyrule. "Link, you know something of this?"

"...."

"Link, spit it out. I need to know this in order to treat him properly."

Sky could definitely tell he was hiding something, but why? Was it Twilight's secret?

"...Sorry, Twi..." the chosen hero could barely hear Wild mumble before he nodded to Zelda in confirmation. 

"...Yes. It is related to one of his secrets that I promised to keep."

Wild's Zelda huffed out. "Link, keeping a secret is admirable, but when that secret could either mean life or death for him? That is not worth keeping it. Say it!"

Wild flinched harshly. Then in a soft-spoken voice, Wild began to spill a secret that made Sky widen his eyes in disbelief.

"The magic you sensed.... it allows Twilight to transform into a wolf with blue eyes...."

_\-----_

Time was feeling worried.

No, scratch that.

He was feeling terrified. For his protégé's life. 

Just as soon as he had finished off the golden moblin who was also clearly the leader, he heard Four yell something that had him freeze.

He was regrettably too far away from Twilight and Wild to stop the moblin, and he was horrified when the moblin had swatted his pup away and off the cliff. As much as he wanted to join Wild in rescuing Twilight, Four made a reasonable argument that there was nothing that the others could do, and Sky was one of their better underwater swimmers who also had a way of floating in the air. 

For the four days that they traveled through Wild's vast Hyrule to Hateno Village, the group's atmosphere was disquieting and anxiety-ridden. It couldn't be helped when they knew nothing of Twilight's condition except for the fact that he was still breathing when Wild had contacted him via Wind's magic communication stone. The worry in Wild's voice did not ease the tension at all.

When they had finally reached the village and pointed toward the ancient tech lab where Purah resided, everyone was on edge. Warriors knocked on the door once and were greeted by Sky.

Who looked emotionally drained and exhausted. There were dark bags under his eyes, his hair was messy, and his normally cheerful-looking eyes were clouded with distress.

Time saw Warriors grimace. "Guessing from your state, no good news?" 

Sky only shook his head once as he let the rest of the weary heroes inside the building. "No. Twilight barely regained consciousness only once 2 days ago, he hasn’t been responding after that...and the injuries that he sustained from the fall was not the only reason of his condition,” Sky continued as the rest of the group shuffled into the building.

“What do you mean by that Sky?” Time heard Hyrule question. “Was he hiding something more than the injuries Four had pointed out a few days ago?”

“....Much worse...and I am ashamed of myself for not detecting it much earlier...”

A chill went down Time’s spine when he heard Sky mumble those words. What had the pup been hiding that he did not notice?

The Hero of Time had spied Wild sitting to the side, his head resting on his hands. The way he barely raised his head to acknowledge the rest of the group was foreboding.

He could understand why Wild was like that when he witnessed Twilight.

Multiple gasps sounded across the room as the rest of the heroes witnessed what Twilight looked like.

Beneath the wraps that were around his torso that was skinnier than what he would have liked, Time spied purple and black bruises all over his body. His left arm was wrapped up, but his right arm showed the group that it was much thinner than anyone had remembered as if Twilight had been starving himself and losing weight, which did not make sense to him at all. He had been eating more than the rest of the group.

_‘So then why did Twilight look like he was suffering from malnutrition?!’_

A lady with blond hair (he guessed that it was Wild's Zelda) had turned to the group when she had heard the gasps. She gave them a tired smile.

"Hello, you must be the rest of the group that Link was traveling with, the various heroes from the past. As much as I would like to welcome you and take notes about your various adventures...."

Wild's Zelda gestured toward the makeshift bed where Twilight laid. "I have to make sure that he recovers."

Time went in front of the group and bowed deeply toward Zelda. "I thank you for your hospitality and help you did for Twilight."

Zelda was a little flustered, but she shook her head. "It’s the least I could do when I see how much you all been great companions for Link over there," she smiled a little, gesturing towards Wild.

Her smile turned into a frown soon after.

"But how did none of you realized what was happening to ... Twilight, right? This whole time?"

Warriors could tell that the words from Wild's Zelda had hit Time hard. He understood what Time was feeling.

Hell, he was feeling the same thing too! How could he, one of the generals of the Hyrulian army, the person who should be keeping tabs on his troops' health and moral, not notice that Twilight had been not feeling well to the point he... looked like that? Warriors thought he was observant enough to pick apart if anyone in the group was lying or not if they were not feeling well. Yes, he knew that all of them sometimes had bad memories resurfacing, but he knew that he could be toeing an invisible line if he tried to address that. He knew when to interfere, and when he should leave it to the others to comfort one another.

It seems like he had misread Twilight entirely, or Twilight was that good at acting.

Wild’s Zelda, reading the silence and the flinches that went through the group, put a hand over her mouth. “Oh, I sincerely apologize, that came out too harsh. I am sure that you do care for each other.” She bowed deeply.

Looking to the side, he could see Time was at a loss for words. He really could not blame him.

“Please your Highness, you do not need to bow. You are justified in pointing that out. I myself feel ashamed of myself for not noticing his condition.” Warriors stated. But one thing was nagging at the back of his mind.

"I would like to ask...can you tell us how long Twilight had been suffering from....this? And how did this happen in the first place?"

"....."

"...Zelda told me that it may have been happening around three weeks since we all had met each other..." Warriors turned to see that Wild had pulled his head away from his hands, but still not looking at their direction

Warriors drew in a sharp gasp.

_For that long?!_

Hyrule had stiffened when Wild uttered that sentence. ‘ _That was so many months ago?!’_ he thought.

In this band of heroes, he was the acting medic of the group. How could he have not noticed Twilight was suffering from some kind of illness for so long? Hyrule looked back toward Twilight, who was laying eerily still except for his rhythmic breathing moving his chest up and down. He could see the multiple bruises that decorated his entire torso and arms, and he could tell that his chest was skin and bones. He could tell that Twilight was also suffering from a severe concussion, given that Sky had told them Twilight had briefly been conscious two days ago but went back under, and how he could still see dark shadows under the bedridden hero's eyes. His mind furiously raced back to when he began to notice some unusual things. One odd thing he could remember was when Legend had commented on Twilights' food consumption. He had bought what Twilight had told him, as it was possible that one would consume more if they burned a lot of calories from extensive work, such as training. Did this mean that there was something else that caused calorie deficiency?

He turned his attention back to Wild as he gathered his thoughts to continue.

"The.. the malnutrition effects that Twilight is suffering through ... it is tied to a secret...ability.... that he has..."

At the corner of his eye, he could see Time and Four stiffening at Wild's words. Did they know about Twilight's secret ability? Time he had no doubt, as all of them knew how close of a bond those two had with each other and the same went for Twilight and Wild. Hyrule was a bit surprised that Four maybe knew what it was.

"Do you guys remember Wolfie? The wolf who always came to each of us when we needed support, both emotional and combat-wise? do you remember the markings of his forehead looks like? Compare to the markings on Twilights forehead."

_‘No, it can't -’_

"....Twilight and Wolfie.... are the same being??"

Wind could not comprehend of what Wild had revealed. Twilight and Wolfie were one and the same being? When he looked back to peer Twilight's forehead, the familiar markings he saw on Wolfie was there, in a different color. How could he have not noticed this connection? It made so much sense now; why Twilight never seemed to be around when Wolfie had appeared, and vice versa.

"...Yeah, Twilight has the ability to shapeshift into a wolf, something he had learned from his journey. He confided to me that he really did not want people to know about it because of his paranoia and fear of how he would be seen by others. How could he be a hero if his inner spirit is represented by something so violent, so feared by the populace as it being evil.

He only told me this because I had recognized him right off the back that he was the wolf who had traveled with me across Hyrule through most of my journey."

Wind felt slight anger of what Wild had said on the behalf of Twilight. How could anyone see wolves as violent and evil? Sure, wolves can get vicious, but that was the same with any other animals, just like with any other animal in the world: they would attack when being threatened. Besides, Wind thought, wolves were cool animals! What had caused Twilight to be fearful of that so much?!

"....But that would mean that Twilight had been shapeshifting between Hylian and wolf forms, two different living organisms with completely different body structures!!" Wind heard Hyrule gasp as if he understood what was going on.

"That means that he has been restructuring his body every time he transformed between the two forms! You can't just have a Hylian skeleton formation be stuffed into the shape of a wolf, they would have to be _brokened and reshaped!!_

Everything was completely silent after that revelation that Hyrule blurted out. Wind felt horrified, and he bet that the others were feeling the same. 

"And since Wolfie made an appearance multiple times almost every day...." Wind realized.

"That is correct," the soft voice of Zelda broke the silence. "If he had been breaking and reforming his bones rapidly, and multiple times for a long period of time, he would be suffering through many symptoms. Easy bruising, headaches, increased irritability, and the most noticeable one is extreme hunger."

Everyone flinched at the last symptom, the one that everyone had noticed once.

"Mending bones takes a lot of energy, and one needs to compensate by consuming more calories. With the number of times I estimate that he has been transforming back and forth for such a long period of time, I believe the amount of calories that needed to be consumed to keep up is around 6000 calories, which is three times the daily amount that is recommended."

Wind was already reeling at what this indicated, and he was not ready when Zelda continued to deliver her diagnosis.

"Not only that, but I also saw some signs that he had been suffering blood loss for a long period of time as well: brittle nails and heart palpitations being a few of those symptoms. Link has also told me toward the last week Twilight has been experiencing fatigue and nausea as well?"

There were nods to Zelda's inquiry.

Zelda bit her lip. "If my theory is correct, the constant shift of his organs could have also damaged them. Perhaps the stomach, given that Link and Sky had told me that he had not been eating well in the past week."

"...so that was blood on the side of his mouth" Wind heard Four mumble off to the side.

"...and with this injury from the fall...." Zelda continued, taking a deep breath.

"...I am surprised that he is still breathing. I hate to say this, but he may not recover for a long time, and not even fully either. Severe concussions from head trauma often have long-lasting effects...."

Silence reigned through the room as Zelda uttered the horrifying diagnostic. After a moment, one of the heroes turned around and went storming back out of the door.

\-----

_Stupid! Stupid, dumb, idiotic self-sacrificing mutt!_

Legend internally screamed as he stomped out of the building. 

He could not name what he was feeling, because it was a melting pot of emotions. Anger, frustration, shame, guilt, sadness, fear...

Those were something that Legend knew he was feeling. 

How did he not connect the dots of Twilight and Wolfie being the same person!? It was so obvious now when he was pointed out about the similarity of the mark on his forehead. He was ashamed of himself.

Anger, he knew why he was feeling anger: the fact that Twilight had kept everything a secret, from his shapeshifting abilities and how much he was suffering due to changing forms so often. He knew he was feeling a bit betrayed due to the fact that Wolfie, who had been his confidant about the terrible experience he had in the past, someone he knew that was physically unable to speak it to the others, was Twilight all along. 

He knew his darkest moments, something he wanted to keep a secret from others and take it to the grave.

He was also feeling immensely guilty because of the fact that he knew that among the Links, he was the one who had sought comfort from Wolfie most frequently. Wolfie had been able to sense even the slightest bit of change of emotion from him and had come to his side whenever he was down. 

Which only sped up the deterioration of Twilight's health, and led to the head injury. He knew that if Twilight had enough strength in his body, he would have not been thrown off by the moblin swing.

He knew he should have not opened up to Wolfie. He should have kept everything under lock and key. If Twilight does not recover from this....it would be his fau-

"Legend?"

Hearing his name, he turned around, expect someone like Sky or Warriors.

It was Hyrule.

He could not read anything from Hyrule's face, as it was set in a neutral expression. With arms wide open, Hyrule uttered something that made him lose his composure.

"I know what you are thinking Legend. It is not your fault."

\-----

It had been three days ever since the group had been given the news about Twilight's situation, a week since the fall, and Time was feeling incredible agony over the situation. How had he not realized what his Pup had been suffering through? How painful his transformations were? Until Hyrule had stated that Twilight would have been breaking and reshaping his bones every single time he had shifted between forms, he had never questioned about Twilight's transformation, nor had he even thought how painful it would have been for him, high tolerance for pain or not. 

He was even the one to suggest the others to talk to Wolfie to the others since "animals" were good listeners like he had owned Twilight's wolf form. 

He stared at Twilight's sleeping face, illuminated by the soft glow of a lantern shining a part of the darkness that had enveloped the lab. He was grateful for the fact that Wild's Zelda, Purah, and Symin had been kind enough to house them in during this trying time, where everyone was anxious for Twilight to regain consciousness.

"Oh Pup...I am so sorry" Time whispered as he gently brushed Twilight's bangs away from his closed eyes. "I am so sorry for not noticing your pain, for not knowing how much you had been suffering when you had been acting as everyone's comforting companion." 

He sighed, bringing his hand back to gently squeezing Twilight's unresponsive right hand. 

"You shouldn't haven't gone through all that pain to comfort us, you really shouldn't have ignored your own pain..."

Time let out a small sigh when he did not get any response from Twilight, just like always for the past three days. 

He began to slowly get up and blow out the candle to rest for the night when he heard something.

"....mmm..."

Time stared back at Twilight, hoping that what he heard was not a hallucination.

"Twilight?" He squeezed his protégé's hand tighter.

He felt a slight pressure on his hand.

Twilight was squeezing back.

"Twilight?" he called out a bit louder, hoping that his voice could reach out to his pup.

He saw slightly dazed, but unclouded blue eyes appear from behind fluttering eyelashes.

"....ime...?

Time quickly leaned over so Twilight's could see him.

"....ime....tha-tha-that...y-you...?"

His voice quivered. "Yes Pup, it’s me. You're safe now, you're awake." 

For the first time in a long while, Time thanked the goddesses for keeping Twilight alive and hadn’t torn his Pup away from him and the rest of the group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will post the last bit tomorrow.  
> Edit: I would also like to thank the various people in the Medical field in the discord I talked to because it helped immensly with writing symptoms.


	4. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zelda gives her diagnosis.  
> Time makes a vow.

Everyone was relieved when they realized that Twilight was awake, and cheered when Zelda had said despite all odds, he had survived the ordeal.

However, it did not mean that his recovery would be easy. 

He was already malnourished, and his weak body's immune system was compromised. As such, Zelda had warned the group that Twilight would not be leaving the bed for a week or so, in order to gain weight back to a healthy amount and build up his immunity again. 

No one protested.

There was one other issue: Twilight's expressive functions.

Hyrule was the first to notice that Twilight was having an extremely hard time forming the words and speaking, and spoke to Zelda about it.

Zelda gave a grim nod. "Remember when I said that a traumatic brain injury would cause long-lasting effects? I remember that Link and Sky had told me that they used their one fairy to at least mend Twilight's most life-threatening injuries, which was a smart thing to do for their part. They also stated that the fairy focused on his neck and head area, indicating that his brain injury may have been far more serious than just a concussion. I do not know if the effect will be permanent, or it would go away with enough therapy, but Twilight may have aphasia. To be honest, I am surprised that is the only symptom that I am seeing."

Hyrule nodded, biting his lip. "That's what I feared. While I know none of us are knowledgeable about therapy, I am sure all of us will help Twilight get through this."

Zelda nodded. "Good to hear that, though I expected nothing less from heroes who had saved Hyrule." 

The Princess of Hyrule looked back toward where Twilight was interacting with the other heroes, a tired but happy smile adorning his face.

"Does Twilight know sign language?" she asked.

Time nodded. "Yes, he does."

"Good, that would help him communicate when he struggles to express himself." 

Zelda turned and looked Time squarely in the eye, her eyes having a determined glint.

"I will search for all the methods that would help him overcome aphasia, but it would not be effective if his mental state is fragile. I have heard that depression is a common thing to occur among patients with aphasia. Take care of him."

Time nodded firmly. He was not letting his pup suffer more any longer. 

He knew the road to recovery was going to be hard for all of them, but he was determined to see Twilight up on his feet and able to vocally speak again without much difficulty.

He knew that everyone would put their best efforts so that could, no, would happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aphasia can be treated with intense speech therapy, but it is not always successful.  
> Whether if Twilight would fully recover his motor movements with his tongue is up for you readers to decide.  
> Once again, I would like to thank all the people in the medical field in the LU Discord for giving me information about symptoms of illnesses and injuries, and for all the readers who stuck with my fic until the end. (^o^)


End file.
